Kensington Gardens Hotel, Sonder

Very small basic room, tiny shower with low water pressure. Staff at check-in desk preferred listening to music than acknowledging guests,unless they were in the kitchen joking around in the morning. One tea bag, two milk and a stale coffee in the room. Location was handy for the Albert hall, certainly no frills here.

The room was disappointing, especially as a frequent Mariott user. 1. Old facilities: The bathroom was old, the shower wasn’t draining well to the point the water was piling up. The door is slightly creaky and slams really hard when you try to close it, and the floor is very creaky too. Also, first night arriving, the lights did not function for 5 minutes? Worked normally after we constantly turned the lights on and off for a while. 2. Cleanliness: We had BED BUGS on our second night. We wish we were wrong, but we found 4 of them on our bed. (There’s no daily housekeeping, and if you were to request one they charge £25? Wish there was one to keep the bed clean) 3. Inconsistency: We requested for a taxi to another hotel, but the postal code was incorrect and was taken somewhere slightly away from our destination instead. I would’ve given the place a 3-star since the location was great, the staffs were very kind through our stay, and the breakfast was very delicious. Unfortunately though,the bed bug was final nail that dropped my rating to 2. We were supposed to stay for a week but given there were no spare rooms to move to, we decided to leave after the second night. The location was amazing and the staffs were very kind though. I did appreciate the staffs’ patience, but please at least fix the bathroom or do constant house keeping without charge to keep the room clean.

I was super impressed with this accommodation all round. |Excellent (quiet) location |Friendly staff, spotless room, super comfortable bed and pillows, and I was very pleased with the size and layout of my room as a solo traveller. |From now on as we head into the summer, each room will need a fan as there is no AC in the rooms. I got a fan from reception which made all the difference. |My advice is to ask for the fan as soon as you check in, so you will have it for the duration of your stay. |I stayed for three nights and can't wait to return again on my next visor to London. |The nearest tube station is Gloucester Road.

Good location, good value for money.||Some people may not like this low touch Air BnB like Hotel model. For example, you check in and are verified ahead of time through their App. Your room key is a code for a little keypad instead of keycards locks .||I had been a little skeptical because of some past reviews about cleanliness but my room was perfect.||The staff were super friendly as well. I needed an iron and ordered it through the Sonder app. It came in under 5 minutes. ||The front steps could be an issue for some. Also, as other reviews noted, there is no AC. My room was a little warm when I arrived but opened the window and it was fine. I asked about it and was told they are trying to come up with something. ||Breakfast was decent(it had all you need ) plus a neat machine that made fresh OJ on the spot.||Overall very good value for money.

Excellent location close to Kensington Gardens and public transport.|For history and luxury enthusiasts. |What a great 👌 breakfast included in price. A nice surprise, because they say "continental" and indeed in that style but with great class!|Freshly squeezed orange juice, good coffee, selection of cheeses and cottage cheeses, jams, various sweet and savoury pastries, bread, fruit, yoghurts. Yum, yum||Come and enjoy yourself 🤩

Sonder Kensington is a beautiful location a stones throw away from Kensington Gardens and not far from The Royal Albert Hall. The hotel itself is quite typical of Kensington, dusty, old infrastructure, spacious, nice rooms with high ceilings but the bathroom I do have to say was poor and looks like a guest house bathroom. The staff member I had was a really lovely Italian lady and she did everything she could to help me, top service. The breakfasts I felt were a safety hazard, and slightly odd.. old, unpeeled carrots that had been left out and maybe used from a previous breakfast, old cucumbers and the cheese didn't look too fresh either. All vegetarian, nothing made to order, very poor breakfast. The cleanliness of the place I do question if you want honest feedback, renovate the bathrooms, don't just focus on cleaning the rooms and nowhere else in the hotel and please don't serve old breakfast.

I changed rooms twice before I settled for the third. The rooms were way too small and I didn’t enjoy the breakfast. But the hotel’s proximity to Hyde Park, Kensington Palace and everything good in central London makes it a smart choice!

Took me 4h to make the reservation on the first place. At the arrival the receptionist told that the reservation was cancelled without any comment - even without me being noticed. Told me that she couldn’t do anything about it and that the manager was having a day off. Waited there in the lobby for 2 hours - got late for work because of that. Ended up leaving without any help and place to sleep, realising those two hours were totally wasted. If you have an option don’t book here. Don’t even know how is it possible for a hotel to cancel quests reservation without noticing them. Also the receptionist was totally powerless in this situation to do anything about it. Big up for her for at least trying. Sonder won’t even pick up the phone. Not a nice surprise to arrive to a different country and find out your reservation has been cancelled without you being noticed about it.